Town Square

Castlewood, union agree to new three-year contract

After three years, the battle between locked out workers and Castlewood Country Club has come to a close with a new contract signed by union members. The members voted 44-1 to approve the new three-year contract, under which they will pay $225 per month for family health insurance -- what the union proposed before the lockout began.

Posted by Tim Jameson
a resident of West of Foothill
on Feb 21, 2013 at 9:29 pm

Kudos to the 45 voting members who stuck it out. Only by being unified as a union were they able to resist exploitation as practiced by the greedy richies of Castlewood. Time for Castlewood to clean house and bring back its unionized workers.

Posted by Chuck Collins
a resident of Canyon Oaks
on Feb 21, 2013 at 10:48 pm

I've never been in a union but I've worked with many who were. To a man/woman they seemed to feel less vulnerable than the sole individual worker. It must be pretty scary to be a lone janitor, watchman, bartender or of many other unskilled, undervalued jobs, and to not have an organization to back you when the organization that hires and fires you has so many advantages. (Comments partially removed by Pleasanton Weekly Online staff) (Post deemed inappropriate by Pleasanton Weekly Online staff)

Posted by Pierre
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 9:30 am

Sounds like one paranoid racist scab who is soon to be without his part-time job. Because ... it's the communists' fault. And the illegals' fault. And the unions' fault. And Obama's fault. And the world is closing in on him! He's melting! WHAT A WORLD, What a World, what a worl.....

Posted by Pierre
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 10:14 am

Too bad, Meh. Union won, you lost.

Hey member, I guess you don't know what your CCC is all about. It wasn't a strike, Buddy. It was a lockout. Get your facts straight before you untap the verbal garbage you spill onto these posts. Big difference. Union membership held strong. You lose.

I don't understand how I am a bad person because I am a Castlewood member? I went to college and graduated, I work for a living and have worked hard and choose to join a country club with my disposable income and this makes me a bad person?

Posted by Observer
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 11:36 am

As an outsider, without following this situation, I speculate that the club is in a weak financial condition and is poorly managed. Bickering for years over something that would be resolved expediently elsewhere. I have visited twice for events. The clubhouse is shabby. Things are not good and I would resign my membership ASAP.

Posted by non-union
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 1:54 pm

Marie, I'm sorry that you've been caught up in the left's constant drum beat of class envy. How dare you accomplish more than an union underachiever...we must have a level playing field, lest you upset some illegals self esteem.
Pierre, the union forced a lockout when they prevented their members from voting on the contract that mgmt provided? Why were they so afraid of putting the contract up for a vote? It couldn't be because they couldn't negotiate in good faith, eh? The Club will be out of business soon and the workers will get what the union thinks they deserve.

Posted by Pierre
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 2:14 pm

Ah, yes, someone's back early from work. Reduced hours? Even on a busy Friday? Gee, I wonder why?

Union membership voted 44-1 for the new contract. If CCC goes out of business it'll be because of a stubborn and idiotic management, not because unionized workers have achieved a just resolution. Yes, occasionally we encounter justice in the world, despite efforts by lumpheads and scabs, all very alone in this world, to squeeze every possible political concept under the sun into freedom v. communism.

Posted by Pierre
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 6:05 pm

Yes, mon ami, I tried really hard to make my mark as a part-time bartender in our successful society, but I just wasn't able to hack it. So, instead, I got a skilled union job. When our beloved bosses attempted to cut our hours in half, we filed a grievance which, under our collective bargaining agreement, enabled us to continue working full time.

There's great comaraderie among my fellow workers. They've got my back and I've got theirs. No backstabbing, no bootlicking. Just working-class solidarity and a recognition that we offer a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. It's easy for bosses to screw over one worker; much more difficult for them to screw over me and a couple hundred of my workmates.

I'd bet a dozen of my French pastries against a plate of your goulash that you're far more envious of us than any of us is envious of you. (Comment deemed inappropriate by Pleasanton Weekly Online staff)

Posted by Joe
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 6:22 pm

There are no winners in this scenario.

Not Castlewood. Castlewood is forced to obtain labor via a system which is biased toward the unions. It has been prevented from obtaining labor on the free market by the courts and NLRB.

Not the workers. Union workers, as part of a union, aren't able to compete on individual merit. In Castlewood's case, many of them refused to compete for fear of being labeled scabs. Thus they become even more dependent on the unions.

Posted by Pierre
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 22, 2013 at 6:37 pm

Poor Joe really is confused. First the system is not biased toward unions as he claims; CCC was able to lock out and hire scab labor in their effort to exploit their workforce. The union prevailed only because union solidarity stuck it out. Second, there is no such thing as a 'free market'. There is no freedom in having to work hard and get only crumbs back; there is no freedom in fearing that some desperate soul is willing to do your job for less than a subsistent wage. Third, union workers opt for cooperation over competition; it's healthier, more effective for everyone, and morale is always high - this in contrast to a collection of individual workers laboring under constant threat of being fired.

Posted by Klisvak
a resident of Castlewood Heights
on Feb 22, 2013 at 8:09 pm

Pierre, during the two plus years of the lockout, majority of the former Castlewood Union employees got jobs in other country clubs. Specifically, in the Crow Canyon CC, Sequoyah CC, Richmond CC, Del Rio CC. None of these employees returned. 90% of the people you have seen picketing were hired professional picketers. Most of the new CCC employees are what you call "scabs". In other words these are the people who were hired during the lockout and were forced to join the Union in order to keep their jobs. So much for your solidarity.

Mon ami, you are delusional and it is a waste of time trying to reason with you. Get your facts together before you start babbling about your beloved union. If you are French or have any experience with french labor, you should know what a disastrous conditions has French unions created. France will NOT survive without a major uprighting.

Posted by to the Chicago Mob
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Feb 23, 2013 at 12:27 am

"Posted by Joe, There are no winners in this scenario.
Not Castlewood. Castlewood is forced to obtain labor via a system which is biased toward the unions. It has been prevented from obtaining labor on the free market by the courts and NLRB.

Not the workers. Union workers, as part of a union, aren't able to compete on individual merit. In Castlewood's case, many of them refused to compete for fear of being labeled scabs. Thus they become even more dependent on the unions." I guess the unions claim that the NLRB is somehow an unbiased arbitor but nothing could be further the truth. They side with unions at every opportunity."

While the unions won yet another battle, while using comparable wage arguments that compared for profit corporation wages (like Hilton)against what a private club can pay, they are continually and increasing losing the battle of Public Opinion. The union won the battle, and now the employees that were working at half the wages Castlewood was paying to begin with, without the medical benefits Castlewood was paying, are back to work in worse shape than they were before.

People have taken notice of the extreme measures the unions will go to protect the compensation of the union bosses, while claiming to protect their members - EVEN AS THEY ARE WILLING TO DESTROY THEIR Employer/HOST!

This issue was never about the employees that were displaced or found jobs at half the pay. It has always been about union managements bullying tactics in order to achieve the goal of union power. Even with a bad argument the unions didn't care; they new they still had the union-friendly NLRB in their back pocket.

The good news is that people are waking up to the shady charachter being fully displayed by the unions, the NLRB, and even organizations like PERB. Castlewood has been a good citizen of Pleasanton for Decades and many charitable organizations rely on the venue to help fund their organizations which provide services to many people with needs.

I'm not a fan of the unions intimidation & bully tactics, or the influence over city council members the unions use to promote their agenda, or the intimidation the unions use to coherce council members into voting against their conscience, but I do think very little of this union organization that feels the destruction of a community asset is jsutifiable for their own personal gain.

Posted by jason
a resident of Pleasanton Meadows
on Feb 23, 2013 at 2:37 pm

Will be interesting to see if Castlewood pursues getting the NLRB's decision on the lock-out nullified. Last month, The U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit) ruled that decisions made by the current NLRB are illegal as the "recess" appointments to the NLRB were illegal and therefore the current NLRB lacks a quorum to even meet(Noel Canning v NLRB).

Posted by Daniel Bradford
a resident of another community
on Feb 23, 2013 at 4:55 pm

The Castlewood Country Club board opposed the union not for economic reasons but for ideological reasons. Remember, one of the CCC's demands was that the workers abandon seniority and other job protections, and make payment of union dues voluntary.

It costs $25,000 to join this country club and dues are $630 a month. Due to boycotts, Castlewood lost $370,000 in profits just in 2010.

Some members of the Castlewood Country Club were abusive towards the picketing workers:

"In several cases, workers had to put up with the arrogance of some club members. In at least one instance, a club member spat on a union member when she tried to hand out leaflets at the clubhouse. In another case, a club member almost ran over a workers' child with a golf cart during a picket line near one of the courses.

In June 2011, 24 workers and allies staged a direct action during the club's annual tournament. The demonstrators blocked the main intersection, which prevented club members from entering the lower golf course. One member then hit a gold ball at the demonstrators from the intersection. To enter the course, members then decided to tear down one of the clubs fences so that their carts could reach the green."

Of course, the police never arrested the country club members who hit golf balls at pickets, tried to run them down with carts, and spat on them (all examples of misdemeanor battery and, in the case of the golf cart, possible felony battery). And the rich crybabies of this country club want us to feel sorry for them because the law "favors" the picketers? I can assure you that if one of the picketers had spat on a country club member or tried to run him/her over with a cart, the cops would have arrested the picketer without delay.

If you supported Castlewood during this time with your monthly dues, then yes, you are a bad person. You supported an illegal attempt to crush a union and take away workers' rights. You supported trying to starve some poor, hard-working people into submission.

And you lost.

"At a time when millions of families are struggling to get by and unionized workers are facing concessions and lockouts, the workers at Castlewood Country Club are an inspiration. They showed that when working people stick together and fight, they can defy the odds and fight off the money and maliciousness of the millionaires."

Posted by Daniel Bradford
a resident of another community
on Feb 23, 2013 at 5:03 pm

Castlewood Country Club management and members apparently aren't the sharpest tools in the shed:

"Union members knew it would be hard, but when country club manager Jim Clouser demanded 35 percent of their monthly wages for their children's health care plans, they knew they had to fight back.

Carranza said it was difficult at first, but that the solidarity from other unions and supporters showed them that "we're not alone. It's amazing the community is so willing to help us out. That's not something that we can say for those we served for years."

Although Castlewood workers are hurting, the country club is also taking its share of punishment. After workers picketed a wedding--staying silent for the ceremony--there have been no more weddings at Castlewood.

The union estimates that the country club has lost at least 12 golf tournaments, at a cost of $40,000 each. Local 2850 President Wei-Ling Huber said, "We estimate that the amount that this union-busting director has spent on lawyers and security and lost business is three times the cost of signing the contract."

Huber continued, "This is not about money; this is an ideological fight. This is about union busting." But Castlewood picked the wrong union to bust."

Let's repeat the most salient phrase from that quote:

"...the amount that this union-busting director has spent on lawyers and security and lost business is three times the cost of signing the contract."

Looks like the rich bullies picked the wrong people to try and push around. Castlewood Country Club told the workers to get on their knees but instead they chose to stay on their feet, and fight. And against all odds, they won.

Oh, and by the way, the President is STILL a black man. Your fellow country clubber, Mitt Romney, got sent packing.

Posted by Klisvak
a resident of Castlewood Heights
on Feb 24, 2013 at 8:28 am

A few of you contributors such as Pierre, CHOLO and Daniel Bradford. Why are you continuing writing messages so bitter and full of hate ? Why ? Why do you bring our beloved President Obama into the conversation? YOU HAVE WON! Your Union is victorious. Enjoy yourself. Have some Latte, and French pastry... or you just simply are so consume with hate that you can't help yourself ?

Posted by Daniel Bradford
a resident of another community
on Feb 24, 2013 at 3:09 pm

I've contacted Jeb Bing and asked him to remove these libelous remarks. I don't agree with Jeb on everything, but I give him the benefit of the doubt.

If Jeb chooses not to remove them, those of you hiding behind pseudonyms *will* be hearing from my attorney to answer a suit for defamation of character. Intentionally spreading falsehoods about someone's personal or professional reputation is actionable in California courts.

For those of you who don't know how the Internets work: there isn't any anonymity. The IP records of the Pleasanton Weekly and/or your Internet service provider can be obtained through a subpoena duces tecum, which will reveal your legal name and place of residence.

Come to think of it, this time I sort of hope Jeb ignores me. It'll be quite interesting to find out the real names behind these pseudonyms, don't you think?